Study says Facebook does not affect your grades

“Facebook use in and of itself is not detrimental to academic outcome,” says study author Reynol Junco, a professor at the Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. “It depends how it’s used.”

The study was published last week in Computers in Human Behavior, and it surveys over 1,800 University students. On average, students say they spend 106 minutes on Facebook per day. Each increase of 93 minutes beyond 106 minutes correlates with a Grade Point Average decrease of .12 grade points — statistically significant, but not dramatic when applied to a real-world situation. Basically, you'll have to spend one hell of a long time on Facebook for it to affect your grades. This isn't to say that any improvements are felt from using the social network (the timeline isn't good revision); but it's good to know.

It makes sense that a drop in grades would be caused by students who let Facebook time cut into study time. But the data shows no correlation between time spent on Facebook and time spent studying.

Jason England

I am the Founder and Editor-in-chief of New Rising Media. You can follow me on Twitter @MrJasonEngland.

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